It’s a tremendous honor to have been selected as one of the recipients of this year’s Investing in Artists grants from the Center for Cultural Innovation (.pdf link). I know the grant is extremely competitive–with hundreds of applicants from across the state–so it’s wonderful to have the vote of confidence from CCI and the panelists.

The funded project will involve a partnership with Patricia Sweetow in her new retail/project space in Oakland. I’ll be developing a new series of sculptures and engagements with other businesses and institutions in her surrounding neighborhood that I hope will help her build connections in her new community. I will post updates and more details as the project moves forward.

(On a grant process note, this was the third time I applied to this CCI grant category over the last 7 years and the first time I’ve had a successful application. Last round I got a little closer–made to to the finalist pool–but it’s taken a while to hone in on something that would be an appropriate fit and have solid timing both within the arc of my work and broader artistic conversations. Looking back on my past applications, this is the first time I felt confident that I put together a decent rationale for the project. I hope I can use this as a useful example in future grant workshops as I talk to other individual artists.)